Chelsea clinched the Premiership title with a hard-fought 2-0 win over Bolton on Saturday evening.

Frank Lampard was the hero for Chelsea with both goals in the second half to seal their first title success in 50 years.

The Blues were made to work hard for the victory with their resilient defence paving the way for the victory after Bolton dominated the first half.

Bolton signalled their intentions from the off and after Chelsea failed to clear a long throw-in Stelios Giannakopoulos fired in a snap shot which Petr Cech comfortably saved.

The home side continued to bombard the Chelsea defence at every opportunity and Kevin Davies saw his header from Fernando Hierro's cross float just wide.

Chelsea were struggling to make any real impact in the final third with Bolton's midfield and defence swarming all over them.

Gary Speed had a half chance on 12 minutes with a header straight at Cech and five minutes later Hierro hit a volley straight at the Chelsea goalkeeper.

Bolton missed a golden opportunity to break the deadlock on 22 minutes when Kevin Davies got on the end of Bruno N'Gotty's free kick unmarked six yards from goal, but he got his header all wrong sending it wide of the target.

A minute later Chelsea captain John Terry got in a vital interception to deny El Hadji-Diouf racing clear on goal after the Senegal ace had easily worked his way past Ricardo Carvalho.

Bolton continued to push forward at every opportunity and Hierro tried his luck from long-rage on 28 minutes only for his effort to fly over the crossbar.

The veteran Spaniard then blazed over the crossbar from the edge of the box five minutes before the break after Frank Lampard had failed to clear his lines.

Chelsea suffered a scare right on the stroke of half time when Terry came off the worse in an aerial challenge with Davies with the Blues skipper needing lengthy treatment before returning to action.

Without Damien Duff and Arjen Robben Chelsea were lacking a real cutting edge with Lampard's long-range shot right at the start of the game their only shot on target in the first half.

Chelsea came out for the second with renewed vigour and Tiago volleyed over the crossbar from the edge of the area on 55 minutes.

The visitors then grabbed the breakthrough they were so desperately seeking on the hour mark with Lampard netting his 17th goal of the season.

The England international shrugged off the challenge of Vincent Candela inside the box to collect Didier Drogba's flick on and he kept his cool to cut inside Tal Ben Haim before drilling his shot past Jussi Jaaskelainen to send the away fans into raptures.

Chelsea missed a great chance to double their lead two minutes later when Ricardo Carvalho unmarked inside the box somehow failed to get his head on Lampard's free kick right in front of goal.

Geremi almost gifted Bolton an equaliser on 69 minutes when defending a long throw in from Bolton he deflected a header towards his own goal, but Cech showed brilliant reactions to push the header round the post and spare Geremi's blushes.

Bolton refused to lie down and Ricardo Gardner missed a great chance to draw them level when he played a neat one-two with Davies to send him clear on goal, but the Jamaican international sliced his shot into the side-netting.

With Bolton pushing more and more men forward they were leaving gaps at the back and on 76 minutes Chelsea caught them on the break through Lampard to seal the win and the championship.

Claude Makelele picked the ball up inside his own half sending Lampard racing clear on goal with a great through ball down the middle and Lampard coolly rounded Jaaskelainen before tapping the ball into the empty net and spark wild scenes of celebration among the Chelsea players.

Chelsea were happy to sit back and defend for the final 14 minutes and they easily held on to grab the Premiership crown from Arsenal.

The win will be the perfect boost for Chelsea ahead of their vital UEFA Champions League semi-final with Liverpool next Tuesday.